Sweetings

You don’t have to have gone to public school to appreciate this City institution, though many of its customers obviously have. The small, wedge-shaped space is spartan (apart from the lovely mosaic-tiled floor), with most of the seating at linen-covered counters around the edge, behind which the amiable serving staff are trapped for the lunchtime sitting (the doors shut at 3pm). Crockery and glassware are functional, vegetables come in old-style metal dishes, the wine list is short to the point of brevity (there’s also Guinness and bitter served in pewter tankards) and the cooking is determinedly old-fashioned – but we wouldn’t have it any other way. Start with potted shrimps, say, smoked eel or herring roe (soft and creamy, laced with butter, on brown toast), followed by the likes of fish pie, skate wing with black butter or whole fish grilled, poached or fried. Smoked haddock was a big slab of perfectly cooked fish, unadorned save for a poached egg on top: simple, but satisfying. Complete the schoolyard fantasies with spotted dick, bread and butter pudding or fruit crumble. Sweetings has lasted over a century so far, and long may it continue.

Time Out Eating & Drinking Guide 2008

Services:

Booking: Bookings not accepted
Child facilities: Babies and children admitted
Function room: Restaurant available for hire, seats 30 (dinner only)
Takeaway service: Takeaway service

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